UMass hockey preparing for three-game week beginning Tuesday

AMHERST — A crowded week is also another important one for the University of Massachusetts hockey team.

Last week, the Minutemen entered a weekend series with a chance to make a move up in seeding for the Hockey East Playoffs, but after a sweep at the hands of UMass-Lowell, just making sure they make the field of eight has now become the main concern.

Fortunately, eighth-place UMass has an opportunity to put some distance between it and playoff irrelevance with tenth-place Northeastern visiting Mullins Center on Tuesday followed by a two-game set with ninth-place Maine over the weekend.

Tuesday’s game was originally scheduled for Friday, Feb. 8, but had to be moved because of the two-plus feet of snow that were dropped on Western Massachusetts that weekend.

UMass coach John Micheletto said the three-game week is a burden on players for both teams.

“I would have played at 10 in the morning (that day),” Micheletto said. “It’s tough from a preparation standpoint, it’s tough from an energy standpoint, tough on the student-athletes in terms of what their schedule is over the course of a week to try to jam a game in.”

Each of UMass’ remaining seven Hockey East games holds such importance, though, that there is no time to worry about crowded calendars with the pressure of high-impact games bearing down on players.

“We talk about it all the time, how do you manage that emotion, how do you manage that pressure, how do you use pressure to propel you forward as opposed to weigh down on you,” Micheletto said. “It’s one of the things I think we’ve done a very good job with. I don’t think we’ve let a lot of external things bother us.”

One matter that is over and dealt with according to Micheletto is the status of top defenseman Conor Allen, who did not dress for Saturday’s game against UMass-Lowell because of what Micheletto called an internal matter, but will be in the lineup Tuesday.

Allen was hit with a 10-minute misconduct in the waning moments of Friday’s game against UMass-Lowell, though Micheletto did not say whether the two events were directly related.

“Conor was just an internal decision, things that we had talked about between he and I,” Micheletto said.

Forward Troy Power’s status, though, remains in question. The junior suffered a knee injury against Northeastern on Nov. 30, and hasn’t played since.

Micheletto said Power won’t play against Northeastern and that it would be a surprise if he was in the lineup for the weekend series against Maine, but that Power has been preparing to his best efforts for a return this season.

“He’s been attacking it like he wants to come back. We’re obviously not telling anybody, ‘Hey just take it easy.’ It would be cheating it this year to try and be playing for the future,” Micheletto said. “I think we’ve done a good job of trying to sustain what we’ve done without him. Our guys have done a nice job with that, but there’s no question in my mind that that’s been a big loss for us for an extended period of time.”

If he doesn’t return at all, he could be potentially eligible for a medical hardship waiver under NCAA rules. The rule states that a player is eligible if he/she participates in no more than 30 percent of his/her team’s competition.

Power played in 11 games for UMass this season.

Thirty percent of the Minutemen’s 34 regular-season contests would come out to 10 games, but playoff games are counted – meaning if UMass does make the Hockey East playoffs, the team would total 36 games, and Power’s 11 would be under the 30 percent.

Even if the team doesn’t make the playoffs, Power could still apply for a review to a special NCAA committee that has the “authority to review and determine whether to approve the waiver based on circumstances that may warrant relief from the application of the legislated waiver criteria,” according to NCAA rule 14.2.4.2.1.